Observing Log for Mike Durkin 2/24/2009 about 11:30PM Forest Hills, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing ?/5 Temperature: about 30 degrees Equipment: 10x50 binoculars I went up on the roof of my apartment building in Forest Hills to observe Comet Lulin. Using 10x50 binoculars, I found it about 5-10 degrees to the west of Saturn. I was just barely able to make out the comet. I was not able to make out the shape or concentration of the coma clearly, but I would estimate that it was at least 1/4 of a degree in size. I did not see any sign of a tail. It is a good thing I went out on this day. The next day my apartment building finally shut down access to the roof. 2/22/2009 about 11:00PM Forest Hills, NY Transparency: 6/10, Seeing ?/5 Temperature: ?? degrees Equipment: 10x50 binoculars I went up on the roof of my apartment building in Forest Hills to try observe Comet Lulin. It was rather cloudy, and althoug I was able to make out Saturn and parts of Leo, I had no luck in finding the comet. 2/8/2009 2:00-2:30PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: about 50 degrees Equipment: Corona Hydrogen Alpha PST Very windy today. Set up the PST to get a quick look in. Only one signicant prominence area, which still seemed a little on the small side, and also one other fainter prominence on the opposite side. I didn't see any areas on the disk which seemed to have high activity, although there were some areas where there seemed to be almost a larger pattern covering an area of the disk. I think I have to remember to try to use binoviewers with the solar scope, because it almost seems like my eye can play some tricks, where everything on the disk looks like "floaters" and I almost seem to lose some contrast for a few seconds. 2/8/2009 abot 7:00-8:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 7/10, Seeing ?/5 Temperature: about 40 degrees Equipment: 10x50 binoculars There was a full moon out and I didn't feel like taking out the 8-inch, so I just went out with my binoculars. In general, I had trouble seeing the Milky Way and some clusters, either cause of full moon or because the sky didn't seem to have great transparency. Venus was up, no phase visible in binoculars. I also looked at M42 and M45 I also noticed 2 asterisms in Auriga, the lacross stick and Cheshire cat which were mentioned in a recent article by Phil Harrington. Other Log Entries <-- 2008 Jan  Feb   Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  2010 -->